Rotary compressor for making perforated tablets.



F. i. STOKES.

ROTARY COMPRESSOR FOR MAKING PERFORATED TABLETS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3,1916.

l1.,%3? Patented De@ 1916.

FRNGTS 'l'. STORES, .015' PHILADELPH'IA, PENNSYLVNTA.

ROTARY COMPRESSOR FOR MAKING' lElliEOl'LA'llElD TABLETS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec..- 5, 191%.

Application led .Tune 3, 1916. Serial No. 101,599.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that ll, FRANCIS d. S'roKEs, a citizen of the United States, anday resident of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Rotary Compressor for Making Perforated Tablets,

'of which the following is a specification.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide for making perforated tablets or buttons by means of a rotary compressor and from powdered orv plastic material. tablet or button with one or more Vholes of any shape through it.

Rotary compressors for compressing powder or the like into tablets or buttons are known, and an example of one is described in Letters Patent of the United States, No. 610,029 of August 30th, 1898, to 1E. C. Clark, but heretofore they have been capable of making solid tablets only.

The invention will be claimed at the` end hereof but will be first described in connection with the accompanying drawings in which ll have chosen the machine of the patent above mentioned in connection with which to illustrate my invention.

Tn those drawings Figure 1, is an elevational view, partly in section, of so much of a rotary powder compressor as is necessary to illustrate my invention in application thereto, and Fig. 2, is a sectional view, drawn to a very much enlarged scale, and illustrating features of my invention.

1n the drawings 1, is a rotary head provided with a circular row of through openings 2, the upper portions 3, of which are provided with or constitute molds. This rotary head is driven by gearing 4. 5, are core-bars projecting into said molds and they' are held against reciprocation but are carried around with the head. As shown each core-bar 5,V has a laterally extending shank 6, attached to the head 1, in any suitable way so as to prevent its movement up and down with the punch 8, for example,

the shank fits a notch at one side of the opening 2, and is rmly held in the notch.

8, are reciprocating tubular bottom punches, tubular in the sense that they are provided with an opening 7, near the upper part thereof. Each punch 8, may have lmore than one such openlng, and the number of openings corresponds with the number of perforations in the button or tablet. These By perforated tablet is meant a` punches are movable and are reciprocatedv 1n the open1ngs2, and their upper portions surround the core-bars and are movable in respect to the core-bars, which as has been sald, are lixed in relation to the punches. As shown the lower ends 9, of the bottom punches depend below the core-bars so as to slide upon a cam 10, and upon the face of a roller or wheel 11. .For this purpose the lower portlons of the punches are slotted as Vat 12, and the slots 12, accommodate the shanks of the core-bars, while permitting movement of the punches.

13, are top punches arranged in a circular row of openings in the rotary head 1, and alined with the bottom punches. The ends of the top punches are countersunk as at 14, for the accommodation of the ends of the core-bars and they may be laterally slotted as at 15, to clear the countersunk portions of any powder that may be introduced into them on the ends of the core-bars 5. The heads of the top punches are operated upon by a cam 16, and by the face of a wheel 17.

In use and while the punches are separated, powder to 4-be compressed is introduc-ed into the mold 3, around the upper end 0f the core-bar 5. This can be done in any appropriate way, for example, by the means described in said Patent No. 610,019. Tf desired the lower punch may then be raised so as to eject any superfluous powder from the mold. The punches are then brought together by the wheels 11 and 17, and operate to compress the powder in the mold 3, into a tablet, which, when nished, will have one or more holes through it formed by the upper end of the core-bars. The punches are then separated and the lower punch is lifted so as to eject the finished perforated tablet. It will be understood that the core-bars 5, remain in fixed position in respect to the reciprocation of both the top and bottom punches. The described operation takes place progressively as the head is rotated.

The tops of the bottom punches constitute mold bottoms and, as has been said, the lower ends 9 of the bottom punches depend below the core-bars so that the cam 10 and roller or wheel 11 operate upon their lower faces. These bottom punches constitute compressingmeans and so do the top punches, and the bottom punches are subjected to tremendous strain or compression, which may be expressed as amounting to approximately seven tons. The fact that these bottom punches may consist of a single piece with the bottom part 9 extending below the end of the core-bar 5 into position for receiving thrust axially is obviously important.

.What I claim is:

1. In a rotary compressor the combination of a punch consisting of a single piece perforated in the directionof its length and provided between its ends with a radial slot communicating with said perforation, and a core-bar one end of which may project from said perforation and the other end of which projects through said slot and constitutes a support for the core-bar, substantially as described.

2. In a rotary compressor the combination of a rotary head provided with molds, botto-m punches the upper ends of which constitute mold bottoms and the lower ends of which are adapted to receive force applied in the direction of the axis of the punches, core-bars projecting from the punches and out at the sides of the punches between the tops and bottoms thereof, means for preventing endwise movement of the 'core-bars, and provisions for applying force 4 mediate of its ends with a slot communicating with the perforation, and a core-bar arranged in the perforation and projecting from the slot which affords relative movement of the parts.

4. In a compressor punch the combination of a core-bar provided with a lateral extension, and a punch provided with an opening for the reception of the core-bar for the accommodation of the lateral projection and the bottom of the punch extending below the lateral projection.

FRANCIS J. STOKES. 

